Kingston University publishing lecturer Anna Faherty is part of the team responsible for an innovative new public space at London’s Wellcome Collection. The Reading Room, which opened last week, is a reincarnation of the Wellcome Library’s original reading room. The new space is a hybrid gallery, library and events area containing over a thousand books, 100 objects and hundreds of reproduction prints. Visitors to the gallery are encouraged to settle down with a book or strike up a conversation with a stranger; they may also participate in pop-up events.

Anna worked with the Wellcome curatorial team and designers Objectif to plan, research and write interpretation throughout the gallery. A major component of the project is the Reading Room Companion, a 232-page book designed to be browsed and read in the space. The publication provides insights into the displayed objects alongside related stories, archive material and quotes, all selected to both satisfy and spark readers’ curiosity. The book has been described by Ken Arnold, Head of Public Programmes at Wellcome Collection, as delightful, distinctive and compelling.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

“Anna’s work in writing and compiling the Companion to Wellcome Collection’s recently-opened Reading Room was inspired. She took a relatively open project brief covering an eclectic set of topics and turned it into both an effective guide to the room and a delightful stand-alone volume, held together by a compelling and distinctive vision.”

Ken Arnold, Head of Public Programmes, Wellcome Collection

The Reading Room is part of a major redevelopment at Wellcome Collection, the free destination for the incurably curious.

The Reading Room at Wellcome Collection, designed by AOC Architects (Anna Faherty)

Wellcome Collection is open Tuesday to Sunday, with late evening opening on Thursdays. The Reading Room Companion may be purchased from Blackwell’s at Wellcome Collection. Many of the paintings and prints on display in the space are also available to view and download from the Wellcome Library.

Our client, a leading London based worldwide children’s book publisher seeks a business development manager to develop and manage their growing business with their mass market national retail key accounts. This is a new role, created due to the publishers increasing market share of sales in the childrens mass market sector. You’ll be selling a wide range of […]

A rapidly growing subscription publisher is looking to recruit a Senior Product Developer to lead the publishing team, ensuring targets are met and also to lead on publishing product development, to enable high quality market research. The Senior Product Developer will focus on the development and launch of new subscription products and will ensure that pr […]

We are looking for a confident Publisher to join and help lead our lively London-based team, as well as develop our lists in Cultural Studies, Anthropology and Geography. Rowman & Littlefield International is an independent academic publisher, launched in London in 2012 and backed by an established American publishing group. We are an ambitious and coll […]

We have a fabulous opening with a highly successful children’s imprint, for a Senior International Sales Executive. If you are interested in children’s publishing, have experience in co-edition sales and enjoy travel, this could be your ideal next step within a friendly, professional environment. The Senior International Sales Executive is a pivotal role […]

An exciting opportunity for a senior entrepreneurial and focused product developer to work for a subscriptions publisher (print and digital), to launch new subscription products. To research, develop, test and launch new products in a range of media in both new and existing markets. To ensure that new products and product types in existing and new markets ar […]